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The Dream Merchants
From the author of The New York Times number one bestseller The Carpetbaggers comes a novel of passion, intrigue, power, and money.
With 11 weeks on The New York Times best sellers list, The Dream Merchants provides a fascinating look at the early days of the world's most glamorous industry—Hollywood. It was the latest "gold rush"—when ambitious, if unscrupulous, men and women flooded California to turn cinematic dreams into reality, regardless of the moral cost. Johnny Edge, a former carnival barker, schemes and plots his way to the top while Peter Kessler turns his back on a staid life of small-town stability to stake his fortune on the movie business. Beautiful starlet Dulcie Warren is willing to use her sexuality and to play dirty to get to the top, if that's what it takes.
When the lives of these three ambitious, determined characters collide, they have the potential to build a dream—or shatter one to pieces.
More than 25 New York Times bestsellers later—many reaching the #1 spot—and with over 750 million copies sold to date, Harold Robbins became one of the most successful authors of all time.
With 11 weeks on The New York Times best sellers list, The Dream Merchants provides a fascinating look at the early days of the world's most glamorous industry—Hollywood. It was the latest "gold rush"—when ambitious, if unscrupulous, men and women flooded California to turn cinematic dreams into reality, regardless of the moral cost. Johnny Edge, a former carnival barker, schemes and plots his way to the top while Peter Kessler turns his back on a staid life of small-town stability to stake his fortune on the movie business. Beautiful starlet Dulcie Warren is willing to use her sexuality and to play dirty to get to the top, if that's what it takes.
When the lives of these three ambitious, determined characters collide, they have the potential to build a dream—or shatter one to pieces.
More than 25 New York Times bestsellers later—many reaching the #1 spot—and with over 750 million copies sold to date, Harold Robbins became one of the most successful authors of all time.
558 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1949
286 people are currently reading
715 people want to read
About the author
Harold Robbins
319 books437 followersBorn as Harold Rubin in New York City, he later claimed to be a Jewish orphan who had been raised in a Catholic boys home. In reality he was the son of well-educated Russian and Polish immigrants. He was reared by his pharmacist father and stepmother in Brooklyn.
His first book, Never Love a Stranger (1948), caused controversy with its graphic sexuality. Publisher Pat Knopf reportedly bought Never Love a Stranger because "it was the first time he had ever read a book where on one page you'd have tears and on the next page you'd have a hard-on".
His 1952 novel, A Stone for Danny Fisher, was adapted into a 1958 motion picture King Creole, which starred Elvis Presley.
He would become arguably the world's bestselling author, publishing over 20 books which were translated into 32 languages and sold over 750 million copies. Among his best-known books is The Carpetbaggers, loosely based on the life of Howard Hughes, taking the reader from New York to California, from the prosperity of the aeronautical industry to the glamour of Hollywood.
His first book, Never Love a Stranger (1948), caused controversy with its graphic sexuality. Publisher Pat Knopf reportedly bought Never Love a Stranger because "it was the first time he had ever read a book where on one page you'd have tears and on the next page you'd have a hard-on".
His 1952 novel, A Stone for Danny Fisher, was adapted into a 1958 motion picture King Creole, which starred Elvis Presley.
He would become arguably the world's bestselling author, publishing over 20 books which were translated into 32 languages and sold over 750 million copies. Among his best-known books is The Carpetbaggers, loosely based on the life of Howard Hughes, taking the reader from New York to California, from the prosperity of the aeronautical industry to the glamour of Hollywood.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
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October 7, 2019Another fine Robbins book from his early phase,about the movie industry and its pioneers.Robbins himself was part of early Hollywood,very entertaining.His writing had not yet become as sleazy and trashy as it later would.(Four stars).
February 20, 2018
Back in the mid-twentieth century, Harold Robbins sold a lot of books. As a teenager, I remember his novels were everywhere, although I only read one of them. That book, A Stone for Danny Fisher, I read because it was the basis of the Elvis Presley film King Creole, a movie that is still one of my favorites. I remember the novel bore little relation to the film, as the setting and character were changed to fit the Elvis persona. So that was my first experience with Harold Robbins, an ultra-successful author who had several of his books made into films. With that in mind, and loving books about the film industry, I decided to pick up his novel The Dream Merchants. It is a very long saga of how two fictional characters started a fictional film studio. And after reading it, I can see why so many of Robbins’s books were filmed. The Dream Merchants is quite cinematic. As I read it’s swiftly moving story, I pictured it flowing across a movie screen. This book could easily have been filmed with very little change by a screenwriter. I’m surprised it wasn’t. The only reference to it I could find was a TV series from 1980. Most of the films made from Robbins’s books were during his heyday as a writer, the 1960s. So, The Dream Merchants is a very satisfying as a tale of Hollywood. It certainly doesn’t rank with some of the classic Hollywood novels, but it is satisfying and a rewarding read.
July 23, 2011
c1949. Supposedly loosely based on his own experiences whilst working in Hollywood - I really enjoyed this book. The Encyclopedia Brittanica has the following to say about Mr Robbins,'Orphaned at birth, Robbins was placed in a Roman Catholic orphanage and was given the name Francis Kane. He was raised in several foster homes and assumed the last name Rubins from a Jewish foster family, but he changed it when his writing career took off. At the age of 19, he began speculating on crop futures; he became a millionaire the following year but lost his fortune after speculating unsuccessfully in sugar. After filing for bankruptcy, Robbins took a job with Universal Pictures.' So, he not only wrote rags-to-riches stories - he actually lived one. But there is a caveat - it seems that Mr Robbins was a bit of an embellisher so who actually knows? There are various conflicting bits of information but it does not really matter. The book is great and does not seem to have dated that much at all. "He leaned across the table. "Look, Warren, first of all, this picture will be the real thing. It won't run just twenty minutes, it will run more than an hour. Then there is something new that's just been developed. It's called the close-up."
April 21, 2014
Very readable book. I have enjoyed a lot reading this awesome book. Actually the reading of this book is like analyzing an entire episode of the life story of Hollywood. I always wonder how this author found out so many facts about film industry. Anyway I am so glad he did.
January 7, 2011
Robbins was one of the best selling authors of my childhood, a name I heard often while I was growing up, so I thought it was time I read one of his novels and formed an opinion for myself. And all I really learned is that small-minded, sensationalist best sellers were certainly alive and well in the 1960s, when Robbins wrote his self-preening, sexist, gratuitously violent story of the evolution of the film industry. I read it in the context of the self-publishing industry just being born in our era, which was interesting, but at the end when Robbins piously deals out violent rape to a character because, gosh darn it, she's just a damn irritating floozy constantly getting in the protagonist's way. . .yeah, that was the last I'll be reading of THIS muckraker.
September 21, 2015
I think that if you like one Robbins' book, you'll like them all. I've read most of them during the high school, and I enjoyed them very much. Maybe because his characters were always so defined; and he had interesting plots. He kept you awake and turning pages. I loved his male characters, always a strong persona, who have had difficult and scary upbringing, they were balancing on a wire between the shades of a good fella – bad fella, but they still ended up being good people. He found a gold mind with his stories and he knew how to develop them and make them readable.
December 28, 2018
A fun, easy read about the beginning of Hollywood. There was a real feel of Hollywood 'insider' in the book that I've since learned comes from the author having worked at Universal studios. Lots of egos, lots of politics and a pretty horrific love story in the background.
October 13, 2018
Decent enough read with a good story.
September 26, 2024
naja, viel Fachausdrücke, verwirrende Zeitsprünge und wenig Inhalt
July 25, 2011
THE DREAM MERCHANTS was Harold Robbins's second novel, published in 1949. It's set against the background of the early days of the motion picture industry, 1908-1938, and is loosely based on the saga of Universal Pictures. Robbins had no trouble getting the basics for the novels background, as he worked for most of the 1940s and into the 1950s as a budget analyst at Universal (which became Universal-International in the late 1940s).
It's been over 40 years since I read THE DREAM MERCHANTS in its entirety - it doesn't appear in a book log I kept from January 1972 into 1976, so it's pretty certain I read it during my 'first' Harold Robbins phase, sometime around 1970 or so. I did undertake a re-reading about four or so years ago, but it was half-hearted and I set it aside about a third of the way through. I'm having a rough time reading this month, and am looked to be engrossed and entertained - if latter-day Robbins (MEMORIES OF ANOTHER DAY) succeeded pretty well at this, then vintage Robbins should fill the bill even better.
7/24: THE DREAM MERCHANTS was, indeed, engrossing and entertaining - the first half was kind of slow, but the pace definitely picked up in the second half, when the founders of Magnum Pictures, Peter Kessler and Johnny Edge, nearly lose the company through a decade-long series of corporate shenanigans (in the early 1930s Carl Laemmle turned running of Universal over to his son, "Junior," as a birthday present - between 1930-1936 Junior made a series of films that were financial losers, though many are today regarded as classics, and he did institute the studio's profitable 'horror cycle' that began with 1930's DRACULA). The Laemmles were forced out of Universal in 1936 (the year Junior's now-classic film of SHOW BOAT was released) and neither ever worked on a film again.
It's been over 40 years since I read THE DREAM MERCHANTS in its entirety - it doesn't appear in a book log I kept from January 1972 into 1976, so it's pretty certain I read it during my 'first' Harold Robbins phase, sometime around 1970 or so. I did undertake a re-reading about four or so years ago, but it was half-hearted and I set it aside about a third of the way through. I'm having a rough time reading this month, and am looked to be engrossed and entertained - if latter-day Robbins (MEMORIES OF ANOTHER DAY) succeeded pretty well at this, then vintage Robbins should fill the bill even better.
7/24: THE DREAM MERCHANTS was, indeed, engrossing and entertaining - the first half was kind of slow, but the pace definitely picked up in the second half, when the founders of Magnum Pictures, Peter Kessler and Johnny Edge, nearly lose the company through a decade-long series of corporate shenanigans (in the early 1930s Carl Laemmle turned running of Universal over to his son, "Junior," as a birthday present - between 1930-1936 Junior made a series of films that were financial losers, though many are today regarded as classics, and he did institute the studio's profitable 'horror cycle' that began with 1930's DRACULA). The Laemmles were forced out of Universal in 1936 (the year Junior's now-classic film of SHOW BOAT was released) and neither ever worked on a film again.
January 24, 2008
This is a book I picked up and put down over several months in college. I jumped readily into the world of film and watched the reel spin the story of movies from the very beginning. Entertaining, but not page-turning.
August 1, 2013
The only reason I read this novel was because it was about the film industry. There are all the expected stereotypes and enough sizzle to satisfy everyone. Unfortunately, it is a one-dimensional story with characters we do not care about.
March 2, 2015
I loved the way the book gave a glimpse of how the business of making movies came about and how hollywood was created. Although a very fictitious account of how things were...the book does take you to an era where you start understanding a lot of what happens today...
June 6, 2015
Hardback, Copyright 1949. The first book I read in my father's library, and it ruined me for a few upcoming duds. I anticipated everything would be fabulous! I wore out the dust cover, so in the future I started taking them off.
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August 23, 2008isbn,original
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April 26, 2009Its a good book and very revealing about how Hollywood evolved in its initial years.
October 15, 2012
Im confused. I thought Terry Prattchett wrote this?!
LOL.
LOL.
November 4, 2013
fun, trashy book--great beach read
September 11, 2012
The book is about Hollywood movie industry of a bygone era..
Read
December 14, 2012Good book.
June 17, 2013
What a wonderful, captivating novel about the early film industry. And Robbins wrote it so clearly and simply. I always felt like I was in the room seeing the people.
March 17, 2016
It is part of the Hollywood trilogy that Harold Robbins wrote. This is the follow-up to The carpetbaggers. Read it long time ago and I remember absolutely loving it at that time.
February 23, 2016
Nice novel...not really a "must read" though....
January 27, 2019
Harold Robbins takes us through the start-up days and golden days of the motion picture industry in his 1949 novel "The Dream Merchants". It is said that Robbins based the main character of Peter Kessler on that of Carl Laemmle who started Universal.
Through the characters of Peter Kessler and Johnny Edge we get to sit in on the very first moments of the movie industry with the installment of 'flickers' into the arcade rooms at the dawn of the 20th century. The public immediately embraced this new attraction. From there we go to New York and Hollywood as movie reels were made to entertain in the movies. Then came the silent films and shorts, followed of course by the 'talkies'... and Peter and Johnny are involved in all.
But along the way we also see that it wasn't just a bed of roses... there were challenges at every step... including power struggles when the money rewards became apparent.
Robbins showcases Hollywood with all its glamor and also warts; the fame, the glory, the money... but also the envy, the greed, the seduction and the personal costs involved on all levels.
Robbins provides us with a great femme fatale in Dulcie... who will stop at nothing to get what she wants- to be a star!
Here is a great quote by her first director
“You know, you’re a very beautiful woman, Dulcie, and a dangerous one, too…You make fires to start burning inside men.”
This was Dulcie..."She had never loved him (Johnny) and had married him for only one reason. He was getting what he wanted, she held nothing back from him. It was only fair that she should get what she wanted. She knew deep inside her that she would never be satisfied with one man. There was a constant driving inside her, challenging her. She could only be happy when every man in the world could see her and want her. She smiled to herself. Soon every man would. When her picture came out."
Robbins warns what it takes to make it in this motion picture business...“This business had to be inside you the way it was for Johnny. You were good for it then, but it left you room for little else.”
But Robbins also tells us what it means to be on top... to be the boss... as Peter warns Johnny...
“When you’re boss, Johnny, you’re on your own. You got no friends, only enemies. If people are nice to you, you wonder why. You wonder what they want from you. You listen to what they say and try to make them comfortable, but you never can. They never forget that you’re the boss and what you say or do might turn their lives inside out. Being a boss is a lonely thing, Johnny, a lonely thing.”
Success in Hollywood was no easy task as one of the top Hollywood reporters tells Johnny...
“This is a very funny business, Johnny. We live in a sort of fishbowl out here. I know, because in many ways I helped to make it so. And I know too, that many things are said about the people out here that aren’t true and that these things sometimes make a lot of trouble and hurt other people.” And “There are many small and vicious people who are envious… and wouldn’t hesitate to destroy.”
Robbins also shares the struggles between the creative minds behind the studios and the men of finance who had to many times come their rescue. Robbins does not hide the fact that many of the early pioneers in the movie industry were Jewish and they had issues along the way because of their being Jewish.
All in all this is an entertaining, educational and powerful story of Hollywood.
Through the characters of Peter Kessler and Johnny Edge we get to sit in on the very first moments of the movie industry with the installment of 'flickers' into the arcade rooms at the dawn of the 20th century. The public immediately embraced this new attraction. From there we go to New York and Hollywood as movie reels were made to entertain in the movies. Then came the silent films and shorts, followed of course by the 'talkies'... and Peter and Johnny are involved in all.
But along the way we also see that it wasn't just a bed of roses... there were challenges at every step... including power struggles when the money rewards became apparent.
Robbins showcases Hollywood with all its glamor and also warts; the fame, the glory, the money... but also the envy, the greed, the seduction and the personal costs involved on all levels.
Robbins provides us with a great femme fatale in Dulcie... who will stop at nothing to get what she wants- to be a star!
Here is a great quote by her first director
“You know, you’re a very beautiful woman, Dulcie, and a dangerous one, too…You make fires to start burning inside men.”
This was Dulcie..."She had never loved him (Johnny) and had married him for only one reason. He was getting what he wanted, she held nothing back from him. It was only fair that she should get what she wanted. She knew deep inside her that she would never be satisfied with one man. There was a constant driving inside her, challenging her. She could only be happy when every man in the world could see her and want her. She smiled to herself. Soon every man would. When her picture came out."
Robbins warns what it takes to make it in this motion picture business...“This business had to be inside you the way it was for Johnny. You were good for it then, but it left you room for little else.”
But Robbins also tells us what it means to be on top... to be the boss... as Peter warns Johnny...
“When you’re boss, Johnny, you’re on your own. You got no friends, only enemies. If people are nice to you, you wonder why. You wonder what they want from you. You listen to what they say and try to make them comfortable, but you never can. They never forget that you’re the boss and what you say or do might turn their lives inside out. Being a boss is a lonely thing, Johnny, a lonely thing.”
Success in Hollywood was no easy task as one of the top Hollywood reporters tells Johnny...
“This is a very funny business, Johnny. We live in a sort of fishbowl out here. I know, because in many ways I helped to make it so. And I know too, that many things are said about the people out here that aren’t true and that these things sometimes make a lot of trouble and hurt other people.” And “There are many small and vicious people who are envious… and wouldn’t hesitate to destroy.”
Robbins also shares the struggles between the creative minds behind the studios and the men of finance who had to many times come their rescue. Robbins does not hide the fact that many of the early pioneers in the movie industry were Jewish and they had issues along the way because of their being Jewish.
All in all this is an entertaining, educational and powerful story of Hollywood.
June 28, 2023
The Dream Merchants (Mass Market Paperbacks) by Harold Robbins- novel- English language- USA- Harold Robbins is popular author in India also. His novels are available in book stores and on the side second hand. I have purchased his books from the roadside stalls. The present novel The Dream Merchants is a long story about how two fictional characters started a fictional film studio. They find passionate women actors and artists to help them. The characters of Peter Kessler and Johnny Edge get to sit in on the very first moments of the movie industry with the installment of 'flickers' into the arcade rooms at the dawn of the 20th century. The public immediately embraced this new attraction. From there we go to New York and Hollywood as movie reels were made to entertain in the movies. Then came the silent films and shorts, followed of course by the 'talkies' and Peter and Johnny are involved in all. But along the way we also see that it wasn't just a bed of roses, there were challenges at every step... including power struggles when the money rewards became apparent.
Author showcases Hollywood with all its glamor and also warts; the fame, the glory, the money. but also the envy, greed, the seduction and the personal costs involved on all levels.
Robbins provides us with a great femme fatale in Dulcie, who will stop at nothing to get what she wants- to be a star! Here is a great quote by her first director “You know, you’re a very beautiful woman, Dulcie, and a dangerous one, too. You make fires to start burning inside men.”
This was Dulcie..."She had never loved Johnny and had married him for only one reason. He was getting what he wanted, she held nothing back from him. It was only fair that she should get what she wanted. She knew deep inside her that she would never be satisfied with one man. There was a constant driving inside her, challenging her. She could only be happy when every man in the world could see her and want her. She smiled to herself. Soon every man would. When her picture came out." Author warns what it takes to make it in this motion picture business.“This business had to be inside you the way it was for Johnny. You were good for it then, but it left you room for little else.” But Robbins also tells us what it means to be on top... to be the boss... as Peter warns Johnny,-“When you’re boss, Johnny, you’re on your own. You got no friends, only enemies. If people are nice to you, you wonder why. You wonder what they want from you. You listen to what they say and try to make them comfortable, but you never can. They never forget that you’re the boss and what you say or do might turn their lives inside out. Being a boss is a lonely thing, Johnny, a lonely thing.” Success in Hollywood was no easy task as one of the top Hollywood reporters tells Johnny... “This is a very funny business, Johnny. We live in a sort of fishbowl out here. I know, because in many ways I helped to make it so. And I know too, that many things are said about the people out here that aren’t true and that these things sometimes make a lot of trouble and hurt other people.” And “There are many small and vicious people who are envious… and wouldn’t hesitate to destroy.” I read it’s swiftly moving story, I pictured it flowing across a movie production studio and a screen. The book is a very satisfying as a tale of Hollywood. It is a goodread book for readers of all age groups.
Author showcases Hollywood with all its glamor and also warts; the fame, the glory, the money. but also the envy, greed, the seduction and the personal costs involved on all levels.
Robbins provides us with a great femme fatale in Dulcie, who will stop at nothing to get what she wants- to be a star! Here is a great quote by her first director “You know, you’re a very beautiful woman, Dulcie, and a dangerous one, too. You make fires to start burning inside men.”
This was Dulcie..."She had never loved Johnny and had married him for only one reason. He was getting what he wanted, she held nothing back from him. It was only fair that she should get what she wanted. She knew deep inside her that she would never be satisfied with one man. There was a constant driving inside her, challenging her. She could only be happy when every man in the world could see her and want her. She smiled to herself. Soon every man would. When her picture came out." Author warns what it takes to make it in this motion picture business.“This business had to be inside you the way it was for Johnny. You were good for it then, but it left you room for little else.” But Robbins also tells us what it means to be on top... to be the boss... as Peter warns Johnny,-“When you’re boss, Johnny, you’re on your own. You got no friends, only enemies. If people are nice to you, you wonder why. You wonder what they want from you. You listen to what they say and try to make them comfortable, but you never can. They never forget that you’re the boss and what you say or do might turn their lives inside out. Being a boss is a lonely thing, Johnny, a lonely thing.” Success in Hollywood was no easy task as one of the top Hollywood reporters tells Johnny... “This is a very funny business, Johnny. We live in a sort of fishbowl out here. I know, because in many ways I helped to make it so. And I know too, that many things are said about the people out here that aren’t true and that these things sometimes make a lot of trouble and hurt other people.” And “There are many small and vicious people who are envious… and wouldn’t hesitate to destroy.” I read it’s swiftly moving story, I pictured it flowing across a movie production studio and a screen. The book is a very satisfying as a tale of Hollywood. It is a goodread book for readers of all age groups.
May 30, 2021
This was another case where I much preferred the movie. After I saw the 1980 miniseries, I decided to check out the novel to see how it differed. I soon found out that the TV movie made the characters more believable as well as likeable. Sure, they had their faults but the bad guys weren't as horrible and the good guys had more depth. Johnny Edge (played by Mark Harmon) was more sophisticated than in the novel, where he came across as too gullible and trusting. Morgan Fairchild's Dulcie Warren could be as heartless as she was selfish, but she also had a vulnerable side, whereas in the novel she was a conniving user as well as a whore, who thought nothing of sleeping with her married first cousin! YUCK!!! (Thankfully, the movie skipped that crap.) In the series you felt sorry for Mark Kessler, but in the book he was just plain awful. His sister, Doris had a lot more depth on screen than in print and so did their parents, Peter and Esther Kessler (Vincent Gardiner and Kaye Ballard.)
If you never saw the series, I say check it out, you won't be disappointed. If you never read the book, I say skip it, you will be.
If you never saw the series, I say check it out, you won't be disappointed. If you never read the book, I say skip it, you will be.
March 4, 2021
I bought this book two years ago because it was inexpensive, and because I wanted to try reading a Harold Robbins work. I postponed reading it until I watched an old episode of Jeopardy! where Harold Robbins was featured in a category called Haroldry.
The Dream Merchants is a tale of the rise of John Edge, a boy who worked in a carnival who had the wits to ride the tide of the advent of motion pictures through nickelodeons. Time and again he ekes out victories against overwhelming odds, and he slowly rises through the ranks through the help of his seniors Peter Kessler and Al Santos. In the First World War he loses a leg, and afterward gets played by a succubus, but through his personal defeats he struggles to fight to keep their business, Magnum Pictures, afloat through the Great Depression.
It's an easy read despite its length, and I did learn a few things about the start of cinema, but it's not a transformative work of art. However, it's an intoxicating read, and an able time-waster.
The Dream Merchants is a tale of the rise of John Edge, a boy who worked in a carnival who had the wits to ride the tide of the advent of motion pictures through nickelodeons. Time and again he ekes out victories against overwhelming odds, and he slowly rises through the ranks through the help of his seniors Peter Kessler and Al Santos. In the First World War he loses a leg, and afterward gets played by a succubus, but through his personal defeats he struggles to fight to keep their business, Magnum Pictures, afloat through the Great Depression.
It's an easy read despite its length, and I did learn a few things about the start of cinema, but it's not a transformative work of art. However, it's an intoxicating read, and an able time-waster.
March 25, 2023
Es necesario comenzar diciendo que el argumento creado por el autor en este libro es verdaderamente potente, es como la explosión de una bomba: no se puede detener.
Traficantes de Sueños nos habla sobre los primeros pasos de la industria cinematográfica, de como se fue conformando una de las industrias más masivas de la historia de la humanidad, una industria que mueve masas y que también sabe como dominarlas. El mundo del cine es un verdadero negocio y Harold Robins como hombre de cine nos relata con una pluma estupenda todo los vericuetos que tiene el cine y todas las habilidades que se desarrollan una vez estás dentro de la industria.
Sobre la historia hay mucho que destacar, los personajes son increíblemente buenos y notables, tanto los principales como los secundarios. Los escenarios recreados minuciosamente por el autor es otra cosa que me ha parecido fantástico de esta obra, el autor realmente te hace sentirte dentro del relato. Destacar también, la línea conductora perfecta que se mantiene durante toda la lectura, en ningún momento te sentirás perdido leyendo este libro, realmente fascinante.
Si quieren leer un libro que les explote en las manos por su potencial, entonces no pierdan de vista este clásico.
Traficantes de Sueños nos habla sobre los primeros pasos de la industria cinematográfica, de como se fue conformando una de las industrias más masivas de la historia de la humanidad, una industria que mueve masas y que también sabe como dominarlas. El mundo del cine es un verdadero negocio y Harold Robins como hombre de cine nos relata con una pluma estupenda todo los vericuetos que tiene el cine y todas las habilidades que se desarrollan una vez estás dentro de la industria.
Sobre la historia hay mucho que destacar, los personajes son increíblemente buenos y notables, tanto los principales como los secundarios. Los escenarios recreados minuciosamente por el autor es otra cosa que me ha parecido fantástico de esta obra, el autor realmente te hace sentirte dentro del relato. Destacar también, la línea conductora perfecta que se mantiene durante toda la lectura, en ningún momento te sentirás perdido leyendo este libro, realmente fascinante.
Si quieren leer un libro que les explote en las manos por su potencial, entonces no pierdan de vista este clásico.
September 6, 2023
Peter Kessler, Johnny Edge e Joe Turner.
Tre uomini che uniscono le loro forze per dare vita al sogno di fondare una casa cinematografica in risposta allo strapotere consorzi.
Tutto sembra andare nel migliore dei modi, finché fra i tre non sorgono le prime divergenze di vedute sull'opportunità (o meno) di scommettere sull'avvento del sonoro.
Ad aggravare la situazione, entra poi in scena Dulcie Warren, un'attrice che utilizza la sua bellezza per convincere Mark, il figlio di Peter a giocare sporco contro il padre e i suoi soci.
Ed anche lo scenario internazionale non sembra essere dei migliori, se è vero com'è vero che lo spettro della Grande Crisi rischia di minare alla radice il progetto dei mercanti di sogni.
Un romanzo che mostra come le logiche di potere che solo in tempi recentii sembrano dominare Hollywood, risalgano in realtà ai suoi albori.
Tre uomini che uniscono le loro forze per dare vita al sogno di fondare una casa cinematografica in risposta allo strapotere consorzi.
Tutto sembra andare nel migliore dei modi, finché fra i tre non sorgono le prime divergenze di vedute sull'opportunità (o meno) di scommettere sull'avvento del sonoro.
Ad aggravare la situazione, entra poi in scena Dulcie Warren, un'attrice che utilizza la sua bellezza per convincere Mark, il figlio di Peter a giocare sporco contro il padre e i suoi soci.
Ed anche lo scenario internazionale non sembra essere dei migliori, se è vero com'è vero che lo spettro della Grande Crisi rischia di minare alla radice il progetto dei mercanti di sogni.
Un romanzo che mostra come le logiche di potere che solo in tempi recentii sembrano dominare Hollywood, risalgano in realtà ai suoi albori.
June 12, 2018
Read it Twice
Re-read "The Dream Merchants" for the second time at 73; the first time when I was in my thirties. Not sure why I went back to it after some forty years except the title has always appealed to me as a succinct summation of the movie industry in a pejorative way. It was not what I remembered and I nearly gave up on it at the 76% point. Wooden stereotypes and slow pace. Conspicuously missing is the nitty gritty of the movie-making industry which I thought was in my first time read. Like everyone living I've been to my share of movies but have given up on going to the cinema years ago, preferring my flat screen and the sofa. Nonetheless, I'm glad I re-read it and I'm glad it's over.
Re-read "The Dream Merchants" for the second time at 73; the first time when I was in my thirties. Not sure why I went back to it after some forty years except the title has always appealed to me as a succinct summation of the movie industry in a pejorative way. It was not what I remembered and I nearly gave up on it at the 76% point. Wooden stereotypes and slow pace. Conspicuously missing is the nitty gritty of the movie-making industry which I thought was in my first time read. Like everyone living I've been to my share of movies but have given up on going to the cinema years ago, preferring my flat screen and the sofa. Nonetheless, I'm glad I re-read it and I'm glad it's over.
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